New Clinic Brings Advanced Therapies to a Region in Need

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – June 03, 2026 – A new front has opened in the battle for mental wellness in Northern Virginia. Serenity Mental Health Centers, a national behavioral health provider, today announced the launch of its new clinic in Alexandria, bringing a suite of advanced, evidence-based treatments to a community where access to care has been named the top public health concern.

The new facility, located on Walker Lane, represents a significant expansion of services in the D.C. metro area. It aims to directly address the critical, and often unmet, demand for treatment for depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other disorders. This move comes just a year after a landmark local health report laid bare the scale of the challenge facing the city.

A Direct Response to a Community Crisis

The timing of the clinic’s opening is no coincidence. It follows the Alexandria Health Department's 2025 State of Health Report, a comprehensive assessment that identified mental health and substance use services as the single most important factor for improving community health. According to the citywide survey, a staggering 47% of residents cited this as their primary concern, placing a stark spotlight on the gap between need and availability.

Local data paints a detailed picture of this need. Nearly one in five adults in Alexandria experiences depression, while almost half of the city's high school students reported struggling with anxiety in recent years. This pervasive demand has strained the existing healthcare infrastructure, with residents often facing waits of weeks or even months for a new-patient psychiatry appointment. For those with treatment-resistant conditions, the options have been even more limited, often requiring travel outside the immediate area.

"Alexandria residents shouldn't have to choose between waiting months for a psychiatry appointment and traveling out of the area for advanced treatment options," said Tricia Pease, COO and co-founder of Serenity. "Bringing TMS and ketamine infusion therapy to this community alongside integrated psychiatry means more patients can access, evidence-based care when they need it."

Beyond Traditional Medication: The Science of Neurostimulation

What sets the Alexandria clinic apart is its focus on an integrated model that combines traditional psychiatry with advanced therapeutic technologies. The facility offers Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy and intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions—two powerful options for patients who have not found relief with conventional antidepressants.

TMS therapy, first cleared by the FDA in 2008 for major depressive disorder, is a non-invasive procedure that uses targeted magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells in the brain's prefrontal cortex, a region often underactive in people with depression. By reactivating these neural circuits, TMS can significantly reduce depressive symptoms without the systemic side effects associated with medication. The provider reports impressive outcomes from its network, with an 84% response rate and a 78% remission rate among TMS patients—results they claim are sustained for three years or longer for a majority of those who complete treatment.

Ketamine infusion therapy represents another paradigm shift. While the compound has been used as an anesthetic for decades, its rapid and potent antidepressant effects have made it a vital tool for treatment-resistant depression. Administered intravenously in a controlled clinical setting, ketamine works on a different neural pathway than traditional antidepressants, often producing significant improvement within hours or days. While IV ketamine is used off-label for depression—a common and legal medical practice—its nasal spray derivative, esketamine, received FDA approval in 2019 for treatment-resistant depression. Serenity also offers a distinctive protocol combining TMS and ketamine, an emerging approach designed to leverage the benefits of both modalities.

Integrated Care for High-Need Populations

The new clinic, led by board-certified psychiatrists Dr. Vanessa Freeman and Dr. Lan-Anh Tran, is positioned to serve a diverse patient population, with a particular focus on groups with documented needs. Alexandria is home to more than 10,000 military veterans, a community that disproportionately faces challenges with PTSD, depression, and anxiety. The availability of effective, rapidly acting treatments like TMS and ketamine offers a critical new resource for veterans who may not have responded to standard therapies.

By providing psychiatry, TMS, and ketamine therapy under one roof, the clinic eliminates logistical barriers that can derail a patient's journey to wellness. This integrated model ensures that a patient’s care is coordinated by a single team, allowing for seamless adjustments to treatment plans and a more holistic understanding of their progress. For individuals struggling with severe symptoms, this streamlined access can be transformative.

This sentiment was echoed by a patient from the company's nearby Fairfax clinic. "I'd been dealing with depression for years and got used to feeling exhausted all the time," said Sarah L. "I started treatment at Serenity after a friend pushed me to look into TMS, and it ended up helping way more than I expected. I think having a place like this in Alexandria matters because people need options besides just waiting months to see someone or trying another medication that may or may not work."

As Northern Virginia's demand for mental health services continues to outpace supply, the arrival of a new provider offering a different class of solutions marks a pivotal development. It not only adds capacity to a strained system but also broadens the very definition of what accessible, effective mental healthcare can look like for the community.